§1.1Ὠριγένης Ἀφρικανῷ ἀγαπητῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐν Θεῷ Πατρὶ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου παιδὸς αὐτοῦ (16) εὖ πράττειν.
Origen to Africanus, his beloved brother in God the Father through Jesus Christ His holy child, (16) greeting.
Ἡ μὲν σὴ ἐπιστολὴ, διʼ ἧς ἐμάνθανον ἐνέφηνας περὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ φερομένης ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις Σωσάννης, βραχεῖα μέν τις εἶναι δοκεῖ· ἐν ὀλίγοις δὲ πολλὰ προβλήματα ἕχουσα, ὧν ἕκαστον ἐδεῖτο οὐ τῆς τυχούσης ἐξεργασίας, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτης, ὥστε ὑπερβαίνειν τὸν ἐπιστολικὸν χαρακτῆρα, καὶ συγγράμματος ἔχειν (17) περιγραφήν.
Your letter indeed, through which I learned what you indicated concerning Susanna, who is current in the Churches within the book of Daniel, seems to be brief; but, containing many problems in few words, each of them required no ordinary treatment, but so much as to exceed the character of a letter and to have (17) the outline of a treatise.
Ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ τῆς διανοίας μέτριον, ὅση δύναμις, κατανοῶν, ἵνα μὴ ἀναισθητοίην ἐμαυτοῦ, θεωρῶ, ὅτι ἀπολείπομαι τῆς ἀπαιτουμένης ἀκριβείας εἰς τὴν ἀντιγραφὴν τῆς ἐπιστολῆς σου· ὡς καὶ οὐδʼ ὀλίγαι τῆς ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ διατριβῆς ἡμέραι μοι διήρκουν πρὸς τὸ κὰν κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν λέξιν περὶ ὧν ἐξήτησας καὶ ἁπῄτησάς με, ἐπιστεῖλαί σοι.
And I, considering the limitation of my own mind as far as possible, lest I should be blind to myself, perceive that I fall short of the precision required for the reply to your letter; so that not even a few days of my stay in Nicomedia were sufficient for me, even to write to you at least according to the present text about what you queried and demanded of me.
Διόπερ συγγνώμην ἀπονέμων τῇ τε μετριότητί μου καὶ τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ στενοχωρίᾳ, ἕντυχε τῇ ἐπιστολῇ μετὰ πάσης εὐνοίας (. 18), συνεισφέρων εἴ τι ὑφʼ ἡμῶν παραλέλειπται.
Therefore, granting pardon both to my limitations and to the constraint of time, read the letter with all goodwill (.18), supplying whatever has been omitted by us.
§1.2Καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἕφασκες, ὅτι ἡνίκα διελεγόμην τῷ ἑταίρῳ ἡμῶν Βάσσῳ (19), καὶ συνεχρώμην τῇ τοῦ Δανιὴλ νεωτέρου προφητεύσαντος περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σωσάνναν Γραφῇ, τοῦτο πεποίηκα, ὡς λανθάνοντός με τοῦ μέρους τοῦ βιβλίου κεκιβδηλευμένου ὅντος.
And first of all, you were saying that when I was conversing with our companion Bassus, (19) and made use of the Scripture of Daniel, who prophesied when a youth concerning the affairs of Susanna, I did this as though the fact escaped me that this part of the book is spurious.
Καὶ ἕλεγες τὴν περικοπὴν ταύτην ἐπαινεῖν μέν πως ὥς τι χαρίεν· ἔφασκες δὲ ψέγειν ὡς οὖσαν σύγγραμμα νεωτερικὸν καὶ πεπλασμένον· καὶ ὅτι, ὡς οὐδὲ Φιλιστίων ὁ μῖμος, ἐχρήσατο ἀναπλάσας (20) τὸ συγγραμμάτιον τῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων γειτνιάσει, πρίνου πρὸς πρίσιν, καὶ σχίνου πρὸς σχίσιν· Ἅπερ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἐλλήνων φωνὴντοιαῦτα εἶναι δοκεῖ (21), κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑβραίων οὐδαμῶς.
And you said that you indeed praised this passage in some way as something graceful, but you said you blamed it as being a modern and forged composition; and that not even Philistion the mime, in fabricating (20) a little treatise, made use of such proximity of words, of "prinos" to "prisis" (holm-oak to sawing) and "schinos" to "schisis" (mastic-tree to splitting); which (21) seem to be such in the language of the Greeks, but by no means in that of the Hebrews.
Ἴσθι τοίνυν πρὸς ταῦτα, τί χρὴ ἡμᾶς πράττειν οὐ περὶ τῶν κατὰ Σωσάνναν μόνον (22), ἐν μὲν τῷ καθʼ Ἕλληνας Ἑλληνικῷ φερομένων ἐν πάσῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ, παρὰ δὲ Ἑβραίοις μὴ κειμένων· οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν, ὡς ἔφασκες, ἄλλων δύο περικοπῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ βιβλίου περί τε τῶν κατὰ τὸν Βὴλ, καὶ τὸν δράκοντα ἀναγεγραμμένων, οὐδ’ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ τῶν Ἑβραίων γεγραμμένων· ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἄλλων μυρίων, ἃ κατὰ τὴν μετριότητα ἡμῶν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς συγκρίναντες ἀντιγράφοις τὰ ἡμέτερα (23). πολλαχοῦ εὕρομεν.
Know then, in response to these things, what we ought to do, not only concerning the story of Susanna, (22) which is current in the Greek version among the Greeks in every Church of Christ, but is not found among the Hebrews; nor only concerning the other two passages, as you said, recorded at the end of the book about Bel and the Dragon, which are not written in the Daniel of the Hebrews either; but also concerning ten thousand other things, which we, comparing our copies with the Hebrew manuscripts (23) according to our limited ability, found in many places.
Ἐν μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ τῷ Δανιὴλ περὶ τῆς καμίνου τῆς καομένης, τὸ « πεπεδημένοι » εὕρομεν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀντιγράφοις περισσεύοντα παρὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραϊκοῖς ἕπη οὐκ ὀλίγα, ὥν ἀρχὴ κατὰ μέν τινα τῶν φερομένων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἦν οὕτως· « Προσηύξαντο Ἀνανίας, καὶ Ἀζαρίας, καὶ Μισαὴλ, καὶ ὕμνησαν τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἕλεος αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τῶν αἰώνων.
For in Daniel itself, concerning the burning furnace, we found the word "bound"; but in our copies there are not a few verses exceeding those in the Hebrew, of which the beginning in some of those current in the churches was thus: "Ananias, Azarias, and Misael prayed and sang praises to the Lord..." down to "Bless the Lord, the God of gods, all ye who worship Him; sing praises and give thanks, because His mercy endureth for ever, and to ages of ages.
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀκοῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα ὑμνούντων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐθεώρει αὐτοὺς ζῶντας. » Κατὰ δὲ ἕτερα· « Καὶ περιεπάτουν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς φλογὸς ὑμνοῦντες τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ εὐλογοῦντες τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ· « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι τὸν Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας τὸ ελεος αὐτοῦ. » Συνῆπτο δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς τό· « Καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι οἱ τρεῖς Σεδρὰχ, Μισὰχ, Ἀβδενεγὼ, ἔπεσον εἰς μέσον τοῦ πυρὸς πεπεδημένοι· » τό τε « Ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ Nαβουχοδονόσορ ἐθαύμασε, καὶ ἀνέστη ἐν σπουδῇ, καὶ ἀπεκρίθη, καὶ εἶπε τοῖς μεγιστᾶσιν αὐτοῦ. » Οὕτω γὰρ Ἀκύλας (24) δουλεύων τῇ Ἑβραῖκῇ λέξει ἐκδέδωκεν εἰπών· φιλοτιμότερον πεπιστευμένος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις (25) ἡρμηνευκέναι τὴν Γραφήν· ᾧ μάλιστα εἰώθασι οἱ ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν Ἑβραίων διάλεκτον χρῆσθαι, ὡς πάντων μᾶλλον ἐπιτετευγμένῳ.
And it came to pass, when the king heard them singing praises, and saw them alive..." But according to others: "And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord..." down to: "Bless the Lord, the God of gods, all ye who worship Him; sing praises and give thanks, because His mercy endureth for all ages." And in the Hebrew, there was joined: "And those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the fire," and: "Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke, and said unto his counselors." For thus Aquila, (24) serving the Hebrew wording, published his edition, being believed among Jews (25) to have translated the Scripture more zealously; whom those who are ignorant of the language of the Hebrews are especially accustomed to use, as having succeeded more than all others.
Τὰ δὲ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀντίγραφα, ὧν καὶ τὰς λέξεις ἐξεθέμην, τὸ μὲν ἦν κατὰ τοὺς Ο΄· τὸ δὲ ἕτερον καοτί καὶ ὥσπερ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἕκειτο (26) τὸ περὶ τὴν Σωσάνναν, ὡς σὺ φὴς, πλάσμα, καὶ αἱ τελευταῖαι ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ περικοπαί (27)· οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἕπεσιν,ὡς τοχασμῷ εἰπεῖν, τυγχάνοντα διακοσίοις καὶ πρός.
And as for our copies, the wordings of which I set out, one was according to the Seventy, and the other according to Theodotion; (26) and just as the story about Susanna, which you call a forgery, and the final passages in Daniel (27) lay in both of them, so also did these, which amount to, by a rough guess, about two hundred verses or more.